How to Use Email Marketing to Sell More Books Directly to Readers

Email marketing is at the core of a strategy that many authors overlook: selling your book directly to readers via email. Marketing gurus have been prophesizing the death knell of email since its arrival in the late 1970s, but despite its age, email marketing is showing no signs of slowing down. If anything, it’s becoming even stronger, and it serves as a means of connecting with readers far away from the noise of social media, streaming, and scrolling.

The best part is: with email marketing, you don’t have to worry about scant commissions, middlemen taking chunks of your profits, or bowing to algorithm updates. In this article, we’ll show you how to use email marketing to sell more copies of your books, build a stronger relationship with your readers, and grow your long-term business as an author.

Email matters more than social media

What is it about email marketing that’s so timeless? For one, it’s one of the best ways to sell books. When you set up a steady email campaign, sending a message every week or two to help keep your readers “in the loop” and aware of your work, you’re taking steps to sell more books and drive funnel traffic to your direct-to-reader sales hub: your BookBaby Bookshop page.

Email matters more than social media because you own the list, and when you control the list, you control the audience. Social media and search engine algorithms can turn on a dime and stagnate your organic growth and reach. With email marketing, your message doesn’t go through a middleman.

Plus, email can point readers directly to your sales page, such as your BookBaby Bookshop page, so that they can buy without the friction. Readers who have subscribed to your list are already warm: they know, like, and trust you, and that matters more than just a random click on an ad.

And perhaps most importantly, with email, you can promote new books or bundle offers to an audience that’s already engaged and wants to know more.

Build an email list with BookBaby Bookshop

So how do you go about building an email list from your BookBaby Bookshop page? Well, when users visit your Bookshop page and order your book, they’ll have the opportunity to provide their contact information. There are lots of things you can do to help encourage this, namely:

• Offer a freebie: This is known as a list magnet and could be anything from a short story to a bonus chapter in exchange for their email address.
• Funnel users from socials to email: Use your social media channels to drive people to your email sign-up with the aforementioned offer. This way, you’re taking them from a platform that you don’t own (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) to something you do own (your BookBaby Bookshop page + your email) where you’re in greater control.
• Take advantage of BookBaby’s free marketing assets: We offer free self-publishing and book marketing guides to help you better understand and connect to your audience through your work.
• In-book or back-of-book blurb: For printed books or eBooks, include your BookBaby Bookshop URL (or a QR code) linking to your email sign-up page, encouraging readers to sign up for free bonus content.

Once you’ve built your Bookshop page, you can take advantage of BookBaby’s Ads for Authors service to help you grow your list; it’s a great way to promote your lead magnet or announce special subscriber-only bonuses or sneak peeks that are exclusive to your BookBaby Bookshop page.

If you need a little help getting things up and running, you’ll be glad to know that BookBaby also offers one-on-one marketing consulting to further sharpen your book marketing so that every post you make and every email you send hits the sweet spot for readers who want to know more.

Create email content that converts

Once you have your email list, your next task is to send them the kind of content that builds trust over time, encouraging them to engage with and remember you. The good news is that as a writer, this is where you’ll thrive. There are many different types of emails you can leverage, depending on your unique style and the genre of your book, such as:

• A story or personal narrative, such as a challenge you overcame, or what inspired your story
• Behind-the-scenes or sneak peeks into your writing process, upcoming chapters, or your writing space
• Teach something to your audience. For instance, if writing your memoir, you could share “5 tips for surviving grief” or if you’re writing a thriller, “3 ways to build tension in your writing.”
• Link to blog posts, interviews, media coverage, bonus resources or soft promotions for your books or upcoming launches

Drive people to subscribe to your emails (and keep them there)

If you’re looking to create an author newsletter your readers will actually look forward to receiving, we recommend offering exclusive content to newsletter subscribers — things like bonus chapters, upcoming previews, and more. It’s also a good idea to periodically run subscriber-only promotions.

Don’t forget to promote your newsletter everywhere you can: in your social bios, on podcasts and in guest posts. BookBaby even has a Bookshop promotion option where we’ll email large indie book buyer list and feature your book on our homepage for a week.

By following this plan, you could start to see real, measurable results in your direct book sales within as little as 90 days. Plus, you’ll have greater control over your revenue and a closer relationship with your readers.
Remember: email marketing is your most powerful marketing channel, and it’s surprisingly easy and straightforward to get started using it. Don’t fall into the trap of letting algorithms or social media determine your reach (or lack of it). BookBaby’s Bookshop helps you sell directly to readers, keep more of your profits and build lasting relationships with your audience.